Establishing a day care center for children and youth with developmental disabilities is a goal that has been written for years in various Kolašin local plans (LP), but so far not a single step has been taken closer to realization.
This task is an integral part of the current Local Social and Child Protection Plan. Although that document refers to the period from 2021 to 2025, so far there have been no concrete announcements that children with this type of difficulty will receive a place for professional help.
The URA Municipal Board believes that this is one of the more urgent obligations of the government. URA MPs also tried to obtain money from the capital budget for that project through an amendment, but the proposal did not receive the necessary support in the Assembly.
President of OO URA Miodrag Mijo Vlahović claims that there are currently 35 children with special needs and disabilities in Kolašin. He explains that "the families of these children are exposed to a great effort, both in life and financially, to provide them with the best possible care."
"Despite all that, care is not adequate because it cannot be on a daily basis, so there is an obvious need to build a day care center for those children in Kolašin. The day care center, as one of the institutions of social and child protection, provides children with all the necessary conditions for normal functioning in addition to day accommodation. It is a social service for children and young people with disabilities and difficulties in development, whose work is based on an intersectoral approach in which, in addition to socialization, care and educational work, young people are trained for independent everyday life", he explains.
Vlahović expects the readiness of the Municipality of Kolašin to provide and communally equip the land for the construction of the Day Care Center. However, as he says, it is clear that the entire project cannot be financed from the local budget.
"The suggestion is that the daycare should be made according to the design-build principle so that we can meet the end users as quickly as possible. According to the current number of potential users, the number of which has been increasing in recent years, the building should, according to standards, have an area of 400-450 square meters, ground-floor construction, with an access ramp, central heating and its own parking lot. The necessary funds for designing, building and equipping the Day Center would roughly amount to 780.000 to 820.000 euros", says the president of OO URA.
After the construction and equipping of the Day Center, according to Vlahović, the functioning and maintenance costs would be taken over by the Municipality.
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